


The Path to Forgiveness

by TheLovelyPatronus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Forgiveness, Post-Deathly Hallows AU, Second Chances, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 07:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10183706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLovelyPatronus/pseuds/TheLovelyPatronus
Summary: He had finally worked up the nerve to approach her. Would she give him a chance or offer him a view of the tip of her wand?





	

His eyes followed her at all times. In the ministry when he was there to pay reparations. In Hogwarts when they were receiving honorary diplomas. In the streets of Diagon Ally where he sat in the window of a cafe, sipping coffee that had long since gone cold. He watched her as she perused the shelves of Flourish & Blotts. This was his chance. She was alone, this was his only chance to catch her, away from the Blunder Twins. He stood up, threw a few sickles on the counter, crossed the busy street, and made his way through the door of the book shop. 

Hermione was holding a book called “Forgotten Magik”. She clutching the book between her slender fingers as an all too familiar feeling crawled its way from her toes to her scalp, tingling as it went. She knew that feeling all too well. He was near. She hadn’t felt it's since sixth year, secluded in the farthest corner of the library. As his nimble fingers played with the curl that spilled over the back of her chair. She inhaled, knowing in her bones that he stood behind her now, closer than he had been in over a year. Mint, broom polish, and vanilla assaulted her senses. She’d missed that smell, had longed for it many times, always wondering if he thought of her as much as she did him.

He had pictured this moment thousands of times since those nights in the library. This was the closest he had been to her since the manor. He could smell her now, almost feel her curls brushing against his chin. He was about to speak when she stiffened, she held herself rigid as if she was trying not to scare of some terrified animal. Slowly she turned, her eyes widening as he came into her line of sight.

“Draco?” She all but whispered, he heard her. There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much she needed to know. He opened his mouth to speak words that were already prepared and practiced, instead he vomited words he wasn’t ready to speak.

“Come to dinner with me? Monday night?” He clamped his lips shut as a bright pink blush worked its way up his pale neck towards his angled face. She giggled. A sound he could listen to forever. And then, by a the grace of Circe herself, Hermione nodded her head and smiled.

On saturday, she decided it was simply not fair. The days were dragging, but of course they were. The butterflies in Hermione’s stomach had reached a fever pitch. The closer it came to Monday the more she felt like she would vomit. She couldn’t believe that she was going to pieces over Draco Malfoy, of all people. She couldn’t believe that she had been able to give him another chance after everything he had done both to her and her friends.

She had caught glimpses of the man he could be when they would study together, hidden in the very depths of the library. Of course it was in secret under multiple privacy charms so no one would spot them. The moment that solidified her faith in him, though, was that night in the manor when he refused to give them up, no matter how his parents prodded him to confirm their identities, no matter how much Bellatrix screeched into his pallid face. All of these thoughts rushed through her head as she stared at herself. Huffing, she turned away from the mirror, calming her thoughts. She was Hermione Granger, dammit! She’d survived a bloody vicious war! She could handle a dinner...She swore she could.

She was holding up the fifth dress she had tried on. It was blue and plain looking. Not something she’d want him to see her in on their very first date. “A Date? When did I start thinking of this as a date?” she thought to herself. She huffed again, if she was being honest, this was a date, one she had always hoped for. One that she had never allowed herself to believe would actually happen. Given the circumstances of his upbringing and the very real possibility of backlash from her friends, she had never allowed herself to think of him as anything more than a secret study partner.

Monday came in the blink of an eye and before she knew it, she was sitting in her room biting at the skin around her nails. She allowed the anxiety to take hold for a few minutes before Draco came to pick her up. She was home alone; her parents not yet home from Australia. They had chosen to stay a extra months to digest all that had happened and to put their affairs in order before returning to The UK. A loud bell startled her out of her thoughts. He was here, ready to pick her up and show her how much he really had changed since their childhood.

She checked herself over one more time, shrugged, and made her way downstairs. She had decided on a pale pink spaghetti strap dress made with lace, it was super girly. But then again, she hadn’t felt much like a girl in over a year. She paired the dress with a pair of wedges that gave her legs a beautiful shape. Opening the door she expected to see his signature cocky smirk but instead she was met with a beautiful bouquet of moon roses. Incredibly rare and hard to grow, she was amazed by them. The were long stemmed, white, and they glowed like a full moon in a clean sky.

“They’re beautiful, where on earth did you find them?” She breathed as she took them out of his arms. 

“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. You deserve only the best and I intend to shower you with it.” He said as he followed her into the house and shut the door behind him. 

She put the flowers in a vase and then showed him to the door. He smiled at her and said “Meet you there?” She had turned on the spot and disappeared before he finished his sentence, her laugh ringing through the air.

Tom the barman had shown them to a candle lit booth off to the side, where they had privacy to speak. They had ordered appetizers to share, rather than filling up on the broomsticks food. They had decided on the Three Broomsticks since it had a private dining room and was close to Diagon Ally, should the want to stroll after dinner.

“One bottle of Olde Faeries Wine, Please” Draco ordered for them. 

“So, Draco, what made you decide to ask me out?” Hermione asked, right to the point. 

“No skirting the topic, huh Granger?” He smirked at her. 

“Well, it took me a long time to realize that everything my parents had forced on me wasn’t necessarily true. How could it be? If I, a pureblood wizard, was second to you, a muggle born, in everything except flying. How could you be beneath me? How could I live my life knowing that I had accepted all of Lucius’ hateful garbage without question? I decided to, for once, be my own man. To use my eyes and to see the world for what it is, not blood, not good or bad, not black and white. All grey, except for you, you’ve always been the brightest of all the colors in my world.” He finished.

Her eyes were wide, if she had been any other girl she would have already melted into a puddle, but this was Hermione granger and she had pride, damn it!

“How about you? What made you give me this chance?” he asked her. She was taken off guard for a moment, she had not expected him to ask this question, and therefore had not been prepared to answer it.

“I’m not sure, I mean…I had seen glimpses of the real you all those times in the library. I knew that you had potential to be someone great, if only you could see outside of your family’s bigoted view. I think the moment that sort of solidified everything for me was the night at the manor. You knew it was us, you knew he’d kill you for allowing us to escape and yet still you risked it to help us. In that moment I promised myself that I’d help you, if we ever got out of this war alive.” She finished.

The bottle of wine was empty now, their hands had somehow found their way towards each other. They were leaning in so close to one another that their foreheads were almost touching. Draco had reached up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, absorbing the feeling of her hair as it curled around his fingers, like an old friend who needed physical contact. Hermione had unconsciously leaned into the touch. Her eyes were focused on his lips, licking hers in turn. She wanted to get him out of here as fast as possible. “Let’s get out of here, go somewhere more private.” She whispered to him. The glint in his eyes was all the answer she needed.


End file.
